Five Videogames We'd Like to See on iPad

On April 3, Apple's newest device drops into stores: the iPad. Skeptics dismiss it as an oversized iPod Touch while others embrace the iPad as a new way to enjoy entertainment, including videogames. Apple has such tremendous success with gaming on the iPhone and iPod Touch, that it is making gaming a pillar of the iPad. Sure, those first commercials were all about books, browsing, and movies. Those were for your mom. But in speaking to developers, Apple most certainly wants to use the iPad as another way to continue eating into the portable gaming space still dominated by Nintendo. (And maybe this newly revealed Nintendo 3DS will further entrench the Big N as the market leader.)

Promoting content for the so-called hardcore gamer is a good way to keep paving those in-roads. After all, these are the gamers that will spend $400 for a console and $60 for a new game. They are not entirely unopposed to buying new gear and gadgets to get their next gaming fix. Fostering a healthy audience of hardcore gamers that embrace the iPad will only benefit the new platform, although you can be assured that the casual user will still make up the lion's share of the user base.

To coax those hardcore gamers into making the plunge, Apple should entreat traditional game makers into bringing some of their biggest brands to the iPad. We've picked out five games that would go a long way to making the hardcore gamers pause before deriding the iPad. In fact, games like these might even get them to part with some hard-earned cash.

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StarCraft II
Publisher: Activision-Blizzard


Why It Belongs on iPad: Because StarCraft II has not yet arrived for the PC, its quality is currently unknown. After all, this is a kneejerk sequel that Blizzard quickly whipped up after seeing the first StarCraft do solid business (/sarcasm). Real-time strategy games are the first hardcore genre a lot of people imagined would work best on the iPad. The increased screen size will make it easier to select units, allow you to view more of the battlefield, and provide ample room to set up hotkeys. (By the way, this goes for any of the big-name RTS games, such as Command & Conquer, Supreme Commander, and more. A renaissance of these games on the iPad would be sweet.) Sure, Blizzard could dive into its back catalog and port over the original StarCraft or the WarCraft games for the iPad, but bringing the newest entry in the game giant's strategy arsenal would make a much larger impact.

Scribblenauts
Publisher: Warner Bros.


Why It Belongs on iPad: Regardless of what you think about the DS game, there is no question that Scribblenauts was an innovative idea that required real daring to even attempt. With feedback on the DS game in mind, a sequel is already being formed. Hopefully, developer 5th Cell will consider the iPad a destination for the sequel, too. Or, better yet, an all-new Scribblenauts adventure made specifically for the iPad. After all, the larger screen offers a larger field for designing more complex puzzles. You could have timing events that let the player create objects as Maxwell runs through the field, allowing the developer to side-step any concerns about virtual controls. This is too good of a franchise to keep to the DS. Let the iPad be its next stop.

Civilization IV
Publisher: 2K Games


Why It Belongs on iPad: Yes, 2K just announced Civilization V and we noted that Blizzard should forgo a StarCraft port in favor StarCraft II. But Civilization IV is something special. If you haven't played it (or perhaps you've tried the console-friendly Revolution edition, also on iPhone), you are missing out on one of the best games of the last several years. Civ IV benefits from a richness of history coupled with infinite re-playability (and toss in some still-stellar graphics). All of the benefits of the larger screen afforded to other RTS games would still be in play, such as the ability to create hotkeys and the ease of selecting units on a scrollable world map. With the iPad, creating roads between your cities, pushing into the unknown, and navigating the technology tree would be so simple. While we'd happily accept Revolution for the iPad, getting the full Civ IV would be nothing short of amazing.

Chu Chu Rocket
Publisher: SEGA


Why It Belongs on iPad: There are hardcore gamers and then there are SEGA fans. You think Nintendo fans are loyal? Talk to an unrepentant SEGAhead that still believes September 9, 1999 was the greatest day in gaming… ever. These holdouts are slowly coming to the realization that the SEGA of yesterday is just that – gone. But until then, getting these diehards on the iPad team would be great because they are loud. What better way to convince them to get an iPad than to dig into the SEGA library and bring out some of the bests of the Saturn or Dreamcast era? Chu Chu Rocket is a great start because it just makes sense on the iPad. (Why it's not already on iPhone is baffling.) But with Apple's encouragement, SEGA should keep going. Get the fans their Panzer Dragoon and SEGA Rally 2. Turn the iPad into a virtual SEGA arcade. I would –er, I mean, hardcore SEGA fans would eat it up.

Final Fantasy Tactics
Publisher: Square Enix


Why It Belongs on iPad: Square is certainly amenable to Apple devices. Recently, Square released refreshed editions of the first two Final Fantasy games for the iPhone and is prepping an original 3D adventure for the device called Chaos Rings. These games will be fine for iPad as up-scaled ports, but an all-new entry in the Final Fantasy Tactics line would be a knockout on iPad. If you've never played a Tactics title, you're in for a treat. This is a heavy, hardcore strategy series that uses a lot of conventions from the FF universe, but casts them in a isometric turn-based adventure that requires a thinking cap. The A2 edition of Tactics (for the DS) would be a great springboard for an all-new iPad Tactics, and the large screen would make it easy to sort through all the different jobs available for your ever-evolving party of heroes. Final Fantasy fans would go nuts for this.

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Which existing console, PC, or handheld games would you like to see come to the iPad? Got a fave real-time strategy game that would be a perfect fit? How about a racer? Or do you think the iPad should just stick to its own games and not poach from consoles? Hit the comments and let us know.

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